* MacNicol : In a lately published work, purporting to give the " History of the
Icottish Clans," it is stated that this Clan was of Norwegian orgin. No doubt the
/Ian, from time to time, may have made several marriage alliances with Danish and
Norwegian families ; but the Clan MacNicol was of Irish extraction ! Gregall Mac-
Nicol, who is No. 113 on this pedigree, acquired historic notability by his ojiposition

282 NIC. IRISH PEDIGREES. NIC. [PART III,

97. Taidg [Teige] : his son.

98. Carfin : his son.

99. Aillin : his son.
100. Foil : his son.

101. Fogail : his son.

102. Muireadach : his son.

103. Arailt (2): his son.

104. ErUle: his son.

to and defeat of the Danes and Norwegians : a fact, which in itself, would go to prove i

that the Clan MacNicol is not of Danish or Norwegian descent. ,

In connection with this subject we have lately been favoured with the follow- •
ing—

*' Notes anent Clan MacNicol."" t

By William Nicolson, of Millaquin Refinery, Bundaberg, Queensland :

1. The badge of the Clan is a sprig of oak, in memory of their ancestor Daire.
— See O'Hart's Pedigrees; Annals of the Four Masters, &c.

2. The Daireiniaus or Dairinoi have been identified as the Kairinoi of Ptolemy,
and as the Clan now kno\^Ti as MacNicol or Nicolson, anglicd Nicholson.

3. The adoption of the Clan name of O'Niochol or MacNicol was the result of the
fealty of the Daireinians to Brian Boru, who having ordained that every sept should
adopt some particular surname, in order to preserve correctlj' the history and genealogy
of the different tribes, the majority of them adopted that of O'Kiochol, one of their
chiefs celebrated to this day for his unbounded hospitality. Niochol is No. 91 on the
Stem of the Clan.

4. Clan MacNeachtain, now MacNaughten, and Clan MacNeachdail now MacNicol
or Nicolson, have from time immemorial been in such close contact, that they have
often had their chief in common, and their Tartan is so remarkably similar as to point
out some special reason for the close affinity existing between them. O'Dugan names
O'Taireceirt (Daire) as chief of Clanna Neachtain ; and in the Annals of the Four
Masters, O'Taireceirt is given also as chief of Clanna Snedgile, otherwise SnackroU :
Snackroll being Nicol or Nicolson.

5. The persistence of some Nicolsons as to Danish descent, and the equally per-
sistent assertion of other Nicolsons as to the Irish lineage of the Clan cap be satisfac-
torily accounted for, and these apparently contradictory statements reconciled : For
example — Ottar Snedgile, or Snackroll, or Nicolson, an Irish prince and Earl of the
Western Hebrides, became King over the Danes in Dublin, from a.d. 1146 to 1148, by
choice of the Danes to whom he was allied by ties of relationship, and there are other
instances of the sort ;— moreover, the settlement of Nicolsons in Cumberland and in
Northumberland appears to be directly traceable to the period when Irish princes
formed matrimonial alliances with the princesses of Danish lineage ; — nevertheless,
in spite of the Danish affinities of some of the chiefs of Clan MacNicol or O'Niochol,
the majority of the Nicolsons seem to have fought for Brian Boru at Clontarf.

6. In the year 1204, Sitrig O'Sruithen, Archineach of Congbhala, chief of Clan
Congbhala, chief of Clan Snedgile, died and was buried in the church built by him-
self. It would appear that in him Fuileadh, No. 105 on the Stem of the Nicolsons
(Fuileadh the destitute), lost a friend and protector. Giollareigh was the next chief of
Clan Snedgile and of Clan Fingin, but who are Clanna Fingin ?

105. Fuileadh, the destitute, 106. Erblile, and 107. Sdacail, the Estate loser, were
aU contemporaries of and near of kin to the celebrated Andrew Nicolson who was, as
was Ottar Snackoll, a Hebridean chief and high in authority amongst the Danish
princes. Fuileadh, Erblile, and Sdacaill appear to have been on the Irish because
losing side in Clan matters : hence the flight and destruction that portion of the Clan,
from time to time removing from Ireland and settling in Skye, in Cumberland, in
Northumberland, &c., becoming of necessity increasingly allied to the Danish party.
Even the names of the members of the Stem of the Nicolsons, as traced by O'Hart,
prove this solution of the Irish and Danish traditions of the Clan MacNicol to be
correct.

101. Fogail the fugitive.

102. Muireadach at the time of the death of Sitrig O'Sruithen was, as his name
implies, a chief of Clan MacNicol or Snedgile, who had taken to a sea-fearing life, and

was probably supporting himself and his adherents by piracy with the help of Danish
allies.

103. Arailt, or Harold his son, as his name implies must have had a Danish mother,
for " Harold" is not an Irish name ; his mother was most probably a Dublin Danish
princess.

104. Erlile, his son, was probably reared in Skye ; for in his youthful days the
country of the O'Niochol in Ireland was ravaged by English and Irish alike. In a.d.
1212 Giolla Fialach O'Boyle, with a party of the Kinnel Connell, plundered some of the
Kiuel Owen, who were under the protection of the OTaireceirt. O'Taireceirt over-
took them, and in the conflict which ensued, was slain.

105. Fuileadh, his son : of the period in which he lived the Four Masters write
that then no man spared his neighbour, but took advantage of his misfortunes, and
spoiled and plundered him ; and that many women, children, and helpless persons
perished of cold and famine during the wars of this period. Nor were matters any more
favourable to him and his clansmen in Syke, where the Nicolsous were appealing to
Norwegians and Danes for help against the Scots of the mainland, who continually
made incursions into the Western Hebrides, slaying women and children, even placing
babes on the points of their spears and shaking them till they were pierced through
and fell down the shaft of the spears to their hands, when they threw them away life-
less. These horrible excesses led to King Hacon's Expedition, and at Largs Andrew
Nicolson, one of the most gigantic men of his day, fought at the head of a body of
Danes and Norwegian and Skye men, gaining for himself renown which lasts to this
day. It is recorded that prior to the battle he cut down one of his foes slicing him in
halves lengthways, i.e. from the crown of his head to the seat in the saddle, so that
his adversary dropped instantly half on one side of the horse he was riding, and half
on the other side. In spite of prodigies of valour the Skyemen, Danes, and Norwegians
were routed, but under Andrew Nicolsou's guidance (he being in command of Hacon's
fleet) they reassembled in Skye where the allies were abundantly supplied with
provisions.

Here then in the history of the times we have the clue to the Irish and Danish
traditions of Clan MacNicol — Fogail, the fugitive, becomes such by reason of his
unsuccessful opposition to Invaders of Ireland — Muireadach, his son, seeks on the waters
the safety he cannot find on land, and thenceforward the Nicolsons and Danes are
closely allied.

From the time of Sdacail, the Estate loser, dates, we believe, the foUowingpro verb : —
Bumasdair de chlann Mhic Neachdaill agus amadan de chlann Mhic Cuin.
(A fool of the Nicholsons and an idiot of the McQuinn) ;
A proverb evidently fixing some event in the career of the chiefs of each Clan,
whereby the Clan rights were prejudicially affected by them as representatives of the
septs.

This view of the case is confirmed by the fact of the well known break, here
occuring in the chief ship of Clan MacNicol, i.e.

108. Torstan McLeod, contemporary with 105, Fuileadh.

109. Torcin : his son ; contemporary with 106. Erlile.

110. Torcill : his son ; contemporary with 107, Sdacaill.

This Torcill is the Torcill who married the heiress of the Nicolson chiefs, whose
family in the male line became, according to Fullarton, at that date extinct. And it is
important to note that the son of Torcill and of this heiress is named Seaill, probably

284 NIC. IRISH PEDIGREES. NIC. [PART III.

I. and II. j was thrice married and
had twenty-three children; one of
the wives was Margaret Morrison,
of Lewis.

125. Malcolm: his son; Chief of
his Clan ; married the poetess Mary-
MacLeod, sister of John Garbh

120. Eion (2) :* his son.

121. Alexander: his son.

122. Donald: his son; had a bro-
her named Neil.

123. Malcolm: son of Donald.

124. Donald MacNicol : his son;
Chief of the Clan in the Isle of
Skye, in the reigns of King Charles

the original form of the name of Sdacaill the Estate loser. It is evident that the
peculiar form of the genealogy in the original Gaelic : —

Scaill the first then has his dynasty perpetuated in Scaill the second, — Scaill being
the true form of the name. That there is nothing farfetched in the hypothesis above
advanced will be clear to all \^ ho are familiar -witli Celtic and Hebraic play upon the
pronounciation and signification of names. O'Hart gives Nicail or Kicolto be equiva-
lent of one who ^^ loseth not \' i.e. Scaill and Sdacaill to be equivalent to "Estate
loser.'" Sdacaill's Heiress knew all this and named her son accordingly ; — just as in the
case of Jesus of Nazareth, those who believe him to be the Messias call him Jeschua, but
the Jews rejecting him call him Jeschu. Thej^ carefully leave out the " a, " because by
so doing they indicate that he could not save himself much less save his people ;
moreover, by omitting the "a" the Cabbalists were able to give an evil significance to
the name : the remaining letters being held forth as equivalent to " His name and
remembrance shall perish."

Lastly, upon the foregoing basis sundry difficulties of chronology are removed, and
all the conflicting elements of the Clan history are reconciled. Moreover, the reason
for Torcill's son by the Heiress being named Scaill, as a per contra to Sdacaill, is the
more evident on comparison of Celtic land laws with the record contained in Numbers
XXXVI.

No. 95. Tore Athcliath : It is supposed that the Castle of Athcliath, near Sligo,
demolished in a.d. 1317, was built by Tore.

No. 69. Con-a-cille : From a careful comparison of dates and periods of generation,
it becomes evident that Con-a-cille was contemporary with Laeghaire McNiall, first
Christian King of Ireland ; and that he gained his name by reason of his church
building for Saint Patrick, by whose ministry he was converted.

73. Cobthach Fionn (fair-haired victor) probably acquired soubriquet under Fergus
Mdr jNIac Earca when that foimder of the Milesian Monarchy in Scotland went
thither to fight the Picts. He would certainly head a substantial army of Daireinians
who could at no other date have had sufficient motive for emigrating from Ireland to
Scotland in sufficient numbers to found the colony of Dairinoi or Kairinoi, since iden-
tified as the Clan MacNicol. — See my Notes, 1, 2 & 3, supra.

88. Niochol Snackoll Snedgile : That the Clan was divided at Ciontarf seems
certain. Brian Boru declined the offer of troops made by the King of Ulster in con-
sequence of former feuds between them, but accepted the aid of Sitrig, the Dane,
against the Danes ; and as Tore Athcliath (or Tore of Dublin) was certainly one of
Brian Bora's supporters, and as Sitrig is a name not unf requent in Nicolson genealogies,
the inference may be justifiable that this Sitrig and Tore were kinsmen.

101. Fogail the fugitive : Excepting that the Four Masters mention the O'Taire-
ceirt heads of Clan MacNicol or Sneidgile as patriots, I have found nothing to show
which of the chiefs opposing the English Invasion Fogail could have been.

* Eoiyi : According to some records the three names between this Eoin and
Donald, No. 124, are as follows :— No. 121 Nicaill (3) ; No. 122, Andreas; and No.
123, Nicaill (4). This Nicaill (4), who was called the "Outlaw," had a son No. 124,
who was called Donald Mor, who had a son William, No. 125. It would _ however,
appear that the members of this Clan had a great partiality for marrying into their
own families ; from which cause the names of the sons-in-law, in those three generations
may have been inserted for those of the sons, or, vice versa : being of the same sirname.

OHAP. II.] NIC.

ITHE GENEALOGIES.

NIC. 285

MacLeod, the tallest Highlander
in his time. Of the brothers and
sisters of this Malcolm we have as-
;ertained the names of the follow-
ing: 1. Donald; 2. William; 3.
Rev. Alexander, who twice married
[nto the family of " The MacDonald,
Df the Isles ;" 4. Patrick, who mar-
ried Grizel Frazer, a near relative
)f the then Lord Lovat ; 5. George ;
5. John, who died unmarried ; 7.
Tames ; 8. Jane, who was married
;o MacKinnon, of Corrie ; 9. Eachel,
narried to Eonald MacDonald ;
10. Mary, married to Alexander,

McQueen; and 11. Neill, who mar-
ried Kate MacDonald.

126. John : son of Malcolm : mar-
ried Anne MacLean ; had a brother
Angus.

127. Malcolm : son of John ; mar-
ried Jessie MacDonald.

128. Donald : his son ; married
Margaret MacDonald; died 1797.

129. John : his son; married
Marion Davidson ; died 1850.

130. Norman Nicholson, the Chief
of the Clan ; his son : living in
Camelford, Cambeltown, Tasmania,
A.D. 1880.

NICOLSON. (No. 2.)

Of Portree.

ITeil, brother of Donald, who is No. 122 on the foregoing ("Nicolson,"
nTo. 1) pedigree, was the ancestor of Nicolson, of Portree, Isle of Skye,
Gotland.

128. Samuel (2) : his son ; born in
757; married in 1789 Betsey for
llizabeth), daughter of Norman
Ticolson* of Peinefiler, Portree,
his Samuel died in 1832 ; and
letsey, his wife, died in 1853.

* Nicolson ; This Norman Nicolson was the son of John, son of Neil, son of Donald

CacNicol (No. 124 on the foregoing No. 1 pedigree), the Chief of the Clan in the Isle

: Skye, in the reigns of King Charles I. & H ; and this Neil with many members

the Nicolson family, migrated to America, at the end of the seventeenth, and

iginning of the eighteenth, century.

t Norman : This Norman Nicolson, in a letter to the writer of these pages,
ys — " The MacDonalds, MacLeods, Nicolsons, and MacQueens (or MacQuiuns)
ime from Ireland here (to Scotland) ages and ages ago."

129. Norman :f their son ; born
in 1803; married Marion Bethune
in 1837 ; living in 1878 in Peine-
filer, Portree, Isle of Skye.

130. Samuel Nicolson, of Green-
ock : his son; born in 1838;
married in June, 1873, to Jessie
McDougall; living in 1877; had
two brothers and two sisters : the
brothers were — 1. Neil ; 2. Norman
and the sisters were — 1. Maryanne,
2. Margaret.

131. Norman Nicolson: son of
Samuel; born in 1873, and living
in 1878; had two sisters— 1.
Marion, 2. Mary.

286 NIC.

IRISH PEDIGREES.

NIC. [part III.

NICHOLSON. (No. 3.)

In America.

William, a younger brother (or rather brother-in-law) of Malcom who is
No. 125 on the "Nicholson" No. 1 pedigree, was the ancestor of several
branches of the Nicholson family, in America.

125. William : son of Donald Mor,
and son-in-law of Donald, the Chief
of the Clan ; said to have married
the Chief's daughter ; and said to
have perished at or near Sedgemoor
at the time of the battle of that
name.

126. John (commonly called " The
Sailor;" the H. P. and P. of D. of
the " Stuart Papers") : his son ;
signs his name Nicolson ; married
Joanna Coke, at Dartmouth, on the
3rd December, 1695.

127. William, of Marlborough,
Devon, merchant : son and only
child of John, "The Sailor," and
Joanna Coke ; spelled his name
Nicholson; married Elizabeth Trosse,
on the 7th April, 1724, at South
Huish, Devonshire. He d. 1781.

128. Joseph, of Kingsbridge,
Devonshire : his son ; married
Mary Dunsford, on 17th March,
1761 ; had a brother named Jon-
athan.

129. William of Plymouth : son of
Joseph ; married Sarah Hewett, on
14th December, 1747 ; had brothers
named Joseph, Thomas, John,*
Benjamin, and a sister Mary.

130. Joseph (2) : son of William ;
married Caroline Gregory, at Stoke-
Damerel, on 13th December, 1826,

131. Joseph (3) : his son ; married
Annie Stevens at Milwaukee,
United States, America, on the 29th :
November, 1855.

132. Walter-Gregory: his son; m.
Ada L. Greenwood, at Milwaukee,
aforesaid, on the 7th Oct., 1880.
Had a brother named William-
Stevens Nicholson, then living at
406, Milwaukee Street, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, U. S. A. ; and two sisters
— 1. Harriette-Elizabeth, 2. Sarah-
CaroHne — now (1880) living in
England.

* Jolin : This John was twice married — first to Mary Ball ; second to Elizabeth
Luscombe. By the first marriage he had a sou named John, who was married tc
f Elizabeth Penn^a kinswoman to the founder of Pennsylvania, in the United States
America. The male line of this family has become extinct ; but there is a grand
daughter — EUen-Octavia Nicholson (Mrs. D. Lindsay), living in Victoria, Britist
Columbia, whose sister Emma lived (in 1880) in Devonshire, England.

This John's sister, Mary Nicholson, was, on the 29th March, 1791, married tc
Philip Gibbs, by whom she had twelve children, almost all of whom were (in 1877) ii
Canada, British America. Elizabeth Kicholson-Gibbs, one of those twelve children
was on 3rd June, 1830, married to James Dore Blake, M.D. : the issue of this marriag(
were— 1. Philip-James, born in September, 1831, since deceased ; 2. James Gibbs
Nicholson-Blake, born in Jannarj^, 1833 ; 3. Libra- Augusta, bom in August, 1838 ; 4
Joseph (deceased), born in March, 1836 ; 5 Joseph Nicholson-Blake, bom in May
1838; 6. Elizabeth Anne, born in May, 1841 ;' 7. Edward-Thomas, born in June, 1842
8. Mary Anne, born in May, 1844 ; 9. Sarah-Margaret, born in July, 1847 ; 10. Samue
Hahnemann, bom in July, 1850.

The Philip Gibbs here mentioned was a first cousin of Samuel Newcomen Gibb3,
who was the father of Frederick Waymouth Gibbs, for many years tutor to H. R. H
Albert-Edward, Prince of Wales (1880).

HAP. II.] NIC.

ITHE GENEALOGIES.

NIC. 287

NICHOLSON. (No, 4.)
Of Plymouth, England,

ONATHAN, a brother of Joseph who is No. 128 on the "Nicholson" No. 3
edigree, was the ancestor of Nicholson, of Plymouth.

128. Jonathan : son of William ;
larried in Feb., 1762, at Kings-
ridge, to Amy May.

129. Eobert : his son ; married in
ipril 1784, at Kingsbridge, to Eliza-
eth Poppleston.

130. Jonathan (2): his son; in
'ebruary 1820, at the parish church
f Stoke-Damerel, Devon, was m.
5 Jane-Anne E-emfry.

131. Jonathan-Henry : his son ;
larried, in December 1842, at St.
reorge's church, East Stonehouse,
>evor], to Anne Hanibling. This
onathan- Henry had a brother
amed Eobert, who, in June, 1857,
t St. Andrew's church, Plymouth,
'as married to Emma Philips, by

whom he had five sons — 1. Jonathan
Henry, born in 1858; 2. Eobert-
Joseph, born in 1860; 3. James-
Eemfry, born in 1868; 4. Ernest-
Charles-Eemfry, born in 1871 ; and
5. Arthur-Philips, born in 1874 —
all living in 1877.

132. John- William : son of Jona-
than-Henry; born in Dec, 1848;
had three brothers and four sisters
— the brothers — 1. Jonathan-Henry,
born in June, 1851 ; 2. Henry-
born in November, 1855 ; 3. Eobert-
Joseph, born in February, 1860;
and the sisters were — 1. Jane- Anne,
2. Mary-Elizabeth, 3. Emma, 4.
Maria Eemfry, 5. Elizabeth-Caro-
line-Popplestone ; all living in 1880.

NICOLSON. (No. 5.)

Of London.

OSEPH, a brother of William who is No. 129 on the ''Nicholson" No. 3
digree, was the ancestor of another branch of the Nicolson family, in
mdon.

129. Joseph : son of Joseph, of
ingsbridge ; born in May, 1771 ;

1793 was married to Fanny
leppard.

130. James : his son ; married
ydia Laurie, at St. Dunstan's
urch, on the 7th November, 1828;
dng in 1877, at 34 Walbrook,
Mansion House, London ; had a
other named John : this John
arried — Church of Eochester,
d had tw:o sons, one of whom is
ad ; the other, also named John,

1880. The two sisters are — Fanny
and Mary, now (1880) living at
Hackney : Fanny is m. to Major
Bnskin, and had children. This
Ebenezer has three sons and three
daughters : the sons were — 1 . Arthur-
Ebenezer, b. in 1855 ; 2. James-
Alexander, b. June, 1863; 3. Frank-
Abernethy, b. in November, 1864.
The daughters were — 1. Ellen-Sarah,
2. Anne-Lydia, 3. EHza-Mary— all-
six children living in 1877.

132. Arthur-Ebenezer, b. 1855 1
son of Ebenezer.

NICHOLSON. (No. 6.)
Of Moreton-in-the-Marsh^ and of Lydney, Gloucestershire, England.

'129. Thomas: son of Joseph of
Kingsbridge, who is No. 128 on the
"Nicholson" (No. 3) pedigree; m.
Esther Birt, on 18th September,
1796.